Balloon Fight, one of Nintendo’s early NES games, has Balloon Trip mode where players collect balloons while flying through a night sky illuminated by shining… spikes. Nintendo Land brings Balloon Fight back to consoles with a single player remake of Balloon Trip. Balloon Trip Breeze straps two balloons to your Mii, but instead of mashing the A button you make swiping motions on the Wii U gamepad’s touch screen to create a blasts of wind.
The game picks up on the angle and speed of your swipe, so it’s possible to send your Mii flying across the screen by quickly drawing a line right or left. You probably don’t want to do that, though! Levels in Balloon Trip Breeze are littered with flying hazards. When I played Balloon Trip Breeze yesterday I guided my Mii through a maze of spikes with gentle gusts. On top of spikes, there are bird-like enemies that try to pop your balloons by jumping on them or poking them with a pitchfork. You can defeat these angry birds Balloon Fight style by flying above them and crashing into their balloons.
Balloon Trip Breeze is a score attack game. You earn points for collecting balloons and get a score multiplier if you snag all of the balloons in a set. Players can also get bonus points by landing on a podium at the end of the round and delivering a package. The catch about packages is picking one up changes your weight and makes it more difficult to control your Mii. Like Donkey Kong Crash Course, Balloon Trip Breeze is easy to get into, but it’s a skill based game at heart.
